prettymadness (prettymadness) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-08-03 20:36:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, jules, jules x victoria, victoria |
Who: Victoria and Jules
When: Just before lunch, Tuesday, November 7
Where: School
Status: Complete
The rain sucked. Not only did it fuck with her hair, but it only seemed to darken her already dark emotions lately. Jules didn’t think sunshine would really pull her out of her funk, but it couldn’t hurt, right? Rain hurt. In any case, Jules was trying not to be a downer around her friends. She was pretty good at faking things, including her moods, and while she wasn’t peppy or anything, Jules was doing her best to stay a bit more light hearted, despite the circumstances.
But, oh boy, was she ready for a break by the time lunch period came around. Jules considered driving somewhere to eat, alone, but at the same time, she kind of wanted to be around people too. It was a strange, conflicted feeling. She was heading to her lock to dump her psychology book when she spotted Victoria. Jules gave her a small wave and headed in her direction. The two hadn’t done a whole lot of hanging out lately, but Jules hadn’t been hanging out with much of anyone, so it was nothing against Victoria. “Hey, want to grab some lunch together?” Jules asked, shifting her bag on her shoulder.
Victoria wasn’t the sort to be easily shaken, but the events of the past week were still wearing on her. Halloween was supposed to be a fun thing, getting dressed up in a sexy little costume and prancing around town, nothing life changing. Instead she’d somehow ended the night in the police station, facing charges of criminal mischief, as well as reckless endangerment to human life. And it would have been one thing if she could have explained it, but the night felt like a blur trapped in someone else’s mind. She remembered it all clearly, but she’d definitely not been in her right mind. The charges were being dropped, but only because half the town had lost their minds that night, plus her father had the money and power to clean up the mess.
Still, it left her rattled. There’d been questions upon questions at school, whispers when her back was turned, and it made her all the more determined to set things back to normal. And nothing was more normal than lunch with Jules. She brightened at the offer, giving her a smile in return. “I would love that,” she said, shoving her books in her locker and shutting it behind her. “I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.”
"That's because we haven't," Jules pointed out with a small smile. "We've both been busy, I guess." She had heard about what had happened on Halloween, but Victoria's story seemed to be one of many. It made Jules pretty thankful that she hadn't gone out on Halloween night. She sort of wanted to ask Victoria about it, but decided to wait until they were sitting somewhere, or eating, so Victoria wouldn't think Jules had just approached her to get some gossip. "I think some of the other girls were talking about going to Moxie's tomorrow after school, you know, to like... honor Coach Gaines? Are you going to go?"
Victoria nodded because, while busy wasn’t really the right word, it was the most acceptable. She hadn’t heard any juicy gossip about Jules getting up to mischief on Halloween night, so it was safe to say she probably wasn’t running around under the belief that she was Carrie White. “I think so,” she said on going to Moxie’s. “It feels right. I mean, she was a teacher, but-- but sometimes it felt like she was one of us, you know? I still can’t believe she’s gone.” She was morbidly curious about the details, but had found it horribly inappropriate to ask. All she had to go on was what the papers reported, but the police weren’t very forthcoming with the details.
Jules nodded. It was hard to believe Ms. Gaines was gone. No way could Jules view her as a mother-figure, but she had been sort of a big sister to all the cheerleaders. She had been one of Jules's favorite teachers too. History always seemed sort of nerdy to Jules, but Ms. Gaines had made it interesting and fun. Now they had a substitute teacher and Jules had no idea who would be coaching them for basketball season. It sucked big time. "Everything sucks lately," she murmured. "Like, everything. Sebastian and I talked about doing something fun next weekend, just like, a small handful of us..." She wasn't sure how well Victoria got along with Sebastian, or if she was even supposed to invite people, but she was allowed to ask her friends to come along, right? "You should come with."
Cheerleading was one of those things that Victoria usually got excited about, but right now thinking about it was depressing. She didn’t know who would be taking over, or if they’d even go to competition in the spring, and even if they did, having someone new would feel weird. A distraction really would be nice. “Yeah?” Victoria smiled. “What were you thinking? I don’t know if I’m down for another big party, but if it’s small, that could be fun.” Usually she was all about big parties, but she’d felt so out of control over Halloween that she didn’t want something that might get even a little bit wild.
It was super weird to see Victoria this subdued, but Jules supposed there were very good reasons for it. She felt subdued, and she hated it. Jules just wanted to rewind time to when things were simple and she didn't have to worry about anything except having a good hair day. "Sebastian suggested having a bonfire on the beach. It's something to think about, anyway. It'll be getting too cold to do much of anything soon, so we might as well try and enjoy it while we can, right? You could bring Todd... are you guys still together?" Jules hadn't heard anything to the contrary, but she also hadn't been paying much attention lately.
It probably said something about the shallowness of their relationship that Victoria had barely thought of Todd lately. She’d seen him here and there, they ate lunch together some days, and hung out between classes, but they’d never been close in the way that some couples were. Victoria knew that she could do better, but until she decided on who that was, he was nice to have around. “Yeah, we are, things have just been quiet lately. They lost that big game and so he was all mopey, and then there was Halloween, and-- yeah, I’d totally be into a beach bonfire.” She liked the idea of cuddling up with Todd and her friends under the stars. “Are you going to bring Jasper? Or are you and Sebastian… I mean, you seem close.”
Confusion marred Jules's face for a moment before she remembered Sebastian being gay was not widespread news. Very few people knew, and Victoria was probably one of the last people Bash would want to tell. Jules had nearly forgotten about the playoff game too. It felt so long ago, and now with Ms. Gaines gone, losing a game didn't seem terribly important anymore. "We're just friends," Jules said, and she couldn't help but feel like she had been saying that a lot when people asked. It was like she and Bash couldn't be seen together in public anywhere without someone thinking they had gotten back together. "Close friends, but only friends. I'm going to invite Jasper, but I don't know how much he'd want to socialize with people with his sister still missing. He's been kind of out of it lately. But I think it'd be a nice distraction for everyone. We'll just keep it low key and not invite most of the school, you know?"
“You’re just so cute together,” Victoria said with all sincerity. She really felt it was better for her that Jules was dating Jasper instead of Sebastian. She and Sebastian were too much of a power couple, too perfect to touch. Jasper was beneath Jules, a vulnerability in a way and an interesting gossip topic at times. But she wasn’t going to pick on Jasper when his sister was missing, even if she didn’t think that was going to change any, because it was really bad form if she turned out to be dead. And that was most likely the case. “Maybe it’ll take his mind off it for a bit,” she said instead, trying to be nice. “I can do low key. Would you mind if I invited Heather and Cassy?” They were still within their circle and she was really trying to look good after waving her bat at them on Halloween.
“Yeah, I guess so.” Jules couldn’t help but laugh softly. They had been cute together, but that was all it had been. Time and space had helped open her eyes to that much, at least. Being with someone else helped too. Jules found herself caring more about substance now than who was going to get her more attention holding her hand in the halls. Although... one could argue that could still be Jasper. It was just a different kind of attention. Despite how she was feeling, Jules did notice that Victoria kept the snarky comments about Jasper at bay, and she was grateful for it. Jules was probably not in the right mood to deal with that kind of bullshit, and the last thing she needed was to get into a catfight with Victoria Chapman. She thought about Heather and Cassy, and wondered if Sebastian would care. But she nodded and shrugged. "Sure, why not. Just make sure they don't start inviting everyone, okay?"
“Promise. We’ll keep it small,” Victoria said, smiling back at Jules. Her definition of small might not be the same as Jules, but she could emphasize not inviting anyone else to Heather and Cassy. They usually listened to her and knew how to keep a thing exclusive. Her halloween party had been the opposite, a blow out party meant to include just about everyone, but only because she wanted it to be the place to be. This was different. “So anything else new in your life? My dad’s started poking me about college applications. Have you figure out where you want to apply?”
Ugh, college. Something Jules had completely forgotten about in the past couple of months. Maybe she could get Jason to help her fill out the applications and everything. The other 'new' stuff in her life wasn't exactly new, nor were they things she could talk to Victoria about. So Jules tried to think of some random, normal things that would satisfy the conversation. "Nothing super new," she admitted, and briefly thought about telling Victoria about how she was becoming better friends with Sebastian, and even Greg Wheeler, of all people. But that might have been weird to mention too. "I have a couple colleges in mind, but I may shoot for the University of Maine so I can stay close, you know?" She had imagined going out west to California and living in sunshine near the ocean, but that seemed a bit silly now. "What about you?"
“I’ve been looking at University of Maine, too. They have a good business program and I’m kind of thinking about marketing, but… I dunno,” Victoria said with a little laugh. “I guess I want to go some place big enough that I can change my mind ten times and still find a program I like.” Honestly, she had no idea what she wanted to do with her future. College sounded fun in that it let her get out of Point Pleasant and into a bigger city, but she didn’t see herself going out of state, no matter how much she might like that. Her father had the money, but she didn’t really have the grades. They were decent, but not top of her class by any means. “I like thinking about the social aspect though. Living in dorms and all that. I think that’ll be fun.”
Jules had such an idyllic view of how college was going to be. Cute dorms, cute boys, fun classes and parties. Now she wasn’t so sure about any of it, and that sucked. The only thing she was really hoping for was to make it to graduation. And trying to convince Jasper to move with her wherever she decided to go, although she had a weird feeling that might be a losing battle. Maybe. She wasn’t sure Jasper would ever want to leave town with Amelia gone. “You want to go into marketing? You would be good at that, I think,” Jules said with a smile. “You could probably sell anything if you really wanted to. But University of Maine is one of those colleges that’s close enough to come visit when you want but not so close that, like, your parents will show up on your door on any given day, you know?”
“Thanks,” Victoria smiled brightly. “I used to think it would be fun to go into fashion, but such a tiny percentage of people actually make it big there that marketing seemed a better idea. I just hope I can do it for a business I know and love, instead of, like, dog food or something.” She liked the thought of it, working in a big city, living in a high rise apartment, it was all very glamorous in her head, even if it was so far off. It was something to aim for at least. “Right? I want to be able to come home without boarding a plane, but don’t want my dad dropping by or anything. Plus, we’ve got to get out of here, you know? I’ve always thought we were made for bigger things.” Jules might not be her bestest friend, but she always thought they were both of that class, better than small town Point Pleasant could offer.
Jules couldn't help but snicker at the mental image of Victoria trying to peddle dog food. She seemed more in line with cosmetics and things like that. But a job was a job, right? The amusement dulled just a tiny bit, because she had definitely agreed with Victoria a few months ago. She was so much better than Point Pleasant, and she had big aspirations to get the hell out of this town once she could. But now things felt a bit up in the air and she had no clue what was coming. "We're definitely made for bigger things," Jules said finally. "I don't want to end up like my mom, like at all. And hey, if we both go to the University of Maine, we could always room together, right? Take over campus." Jules grinned. "It has to be more fun than this place. I mean, our beach isn't really a real beach. And god, there's going to be so much snow on the ground soon. It just sucks."
“Oh my god, that would be so much fun,” Victoria grinned, liking the idea of possibly rooming with Jules. University of Maine wasn’t really exciting as far as colleges went, but it was really the most practical and likely of college choices for her. As much as she liked to dream big, she had to be realistic when it came to her grades, SAT scores, and class rank. She wasn’t made for the Ivy League. “I wouldn’t mind the snow if we were someplace like the mountains and could be little ski bunnies, but yeah, I’m of the opinion that college will be an upgrade all around. You’ll definitely have to let me know what you decide, okay? Maybe we can go the tour campus together.”
"Totally," Jules said with a nod. "I love skiing but here it just feels like you're snowed in, you know? I mean, give me some friends or whatever and it's not so bad, but I hate it when it gets to be dangerous to drive like, anywhere. But yeah, we should totally tour campus together! It might be nice going with someone I know." She glanced at Victoria for a brief moment. "You're not, like, in trouble or anything, are you? For Halloween night?" Yes, she had heard about it, but Jules knew how her friends could be. A lot of dramatic exaggerations, so she wanted to hear it from Victoria herself.
It would definitely be more fun to do a campus tour with Jules than by herself or with her father, Victoria was certain of that. Maybe they could plan for that, once they got their applications in, while they were waiting on the results. Victoria went a bit more quiet at mention of Halloween, but Jules wasn’t making fun of her or in total shock, which made her more willing to talk. “No, they say we were drugged. Like, in mass. And since I didn’t hurt anyone… My dad’s helping cover the damages and I’m doing community service. But it sucks, Jules. It wasn’t me! I mean, it was, but… it was like I went crazy.” She had been completely out of her mind for three hours time and drugs didn’t seem like a good enough explanation.
Jules wrinkled her nose at the thought of having to do 'community service'. When would she even have time for that? She didn't envy Victoria, though she was picturing the other girl in an orange prison jumpsuit, picking up trash on the side of the road. Obviously she knew that wasn't community service, but still. It was a little amusing. "I heard a lot of people went crazy," Jules said. "But it totally sucks that you got caught up in it. It's like you were in character for real. I'm glad you weren't hurt, though, or get into worse trouble. You know how people like to talk." She shrugged, since she knew it was stupid to believe everything she heard, given how many times people got it wrong about her.
“I’m glad all I had was a bat,” Victoria said, the thought of what else she might have done having already occurred to her. She’d picked a villainess that was certifiably insane because she looked cute in hotpants. It could be been so much worse. “It makes me want to stick to princesses and sexy animals in the future. If I even dress up. I dunno. Who the fuck drugs Halloween candy?” It was hard to buy into that story, but she didn’t have a better explanation for what made her go crazy. “I gave ‘em plenty to talk about,” she muttered. “It’d be worse if it wasn’t so widespread, you know?”
"Yeah, I guess it's easier to get lost in the crowd than to be the only one," Jules said. What if she had gone out and eaten some of that candy? Would she have gone nuts too? She usually didn't miss out on Halloween, but Jules had wanted to hang with Jasper instead, and she was glad she had. Her lips twitched and she hip bumped Victoria. "We'll give them something else to talk about, how about that? We can do something fun and crazy and everyone will forget all about Halloween night."
Victoria didn’t know what fun and crazy thing Jules might think up, but she liked the idea. Something else for people to talk about, even better if it was the two of them in a positive light. It would certainly help her mood. “I like that idea,” she grinned, hooking her arm in Jules’ as they walked into the cafeteria. “Let’s discuss our options. I think we all need a pick me up. But it’ll have to wait till after lunch. I’m starving.”
"That's fair," Jules said with a small grin. She had no idea what to do just yet, but she could think of something. It really shouldn't be that hard. She was Jules Cooper, after all. Fun was expected of her! After the past month or so, Jules was ready for a distraction, something to make her feel normal again. If that meant getting into some trouble with Victoria, she was all for it.